Graduate Students' Minimum Pay Gets Boost

The minimum pay for graduate teaching fellows and teaching assistants will increase by $300 next fall as part of an attempt to help UNC attract the best graduate students and provide them with a competitive salary.

The increase, which was announced Tuesday, is the result of a collaboration between the College of Arts and Sciences and the Office of the Provost and raises the minimum stipend per course from $4,100 to $4,400 next fall.

In the fall of 2002, that amount will rise to $5,000 per semester.

Aimed at helping the University compete for top graduate students, the increase will take effect one year after a tuition increase designed to help the University recruit and retain faculty.

Raising the minimum pay will require $525,000, which will be reallocated from faculty position funds.

One-third of the money for the increase will come from the Provost's Office, two-thirds from the College of Arts and Sciences.

The plan also includes tuition waivers for the majority of graduate students, as well as health insurance for all students.

Provost Robert Shelton, who started work at UNC last month, said graduate students played an active role in gaining the salary increase.

He said students presented a study that compared the cost of living in Chapel Hill with their salaries as evidence that a pay raise was needed.

The study indicated that graduate students' salaries are inadequate when Chapel Hill's cost of living is taken into account.

"(Graduate students) did a study and showed the cost of living, so even before I came on the scene, the University had stated the goal of moving the salary to $5,000 a semester," Shelton said.

Risa Palm, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said the plan has been developing for some time and is the result of cooperation between her and Shelton.

"It's been something we've been looking at for a long time," she said.

"We started looking very intensely and came up with this package."

Department of English Chairman Bill Andrews said Shelton and Palm worked hard to compile the plan.

Andrews added that the English department, which he said has had some trouble providing TAs with an adequate salary, will benefit from the pay raise.

"I think the budget decisions that have been made have been very wise," he said.

"The English department applauds the dean's actions and is very grateful."

Luke Keele, a political science graduate student who works as a TA for a section of Political Science 41, said the salary increase would succeed in helping UNC attract the best graduate students.

"You don't go to graduate school if you don't get money," he said.

"I'm sure this salary increase will make us more competitive."

Palm said the increase would not only improve UNC's chances of attracting better graduate students but help them get their degrees quicker as well.

"Many have to hold jobs, and we would prefer that they focus on their research," Palm said.

And Shelton said he thought a higher minimum wage for UNC graduate instructors would be positive for the University.

"Students should be able to come here and devote themselves to their career full time," he said.

"People will make a vast array of choices.

"We want them to be choices and not necessities."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.